Can a President Be Born Abroad?

Some are asking whether Senator John McCain—born in the Panama Canal Zone, the son of a Navy officer—meets the "natural-born citizen" requirement to be president.

Quickly recognizing confusion over the evolving nature of citizenship, the First Congress in 1790 passed a measure that did define children of citizens “born beyond the sea, or out of the limits of the United States to be natural born.” But that law is still seen as potentially unconstitutional and was overtaken by subsequent legislation that omitted the “natural-born” phrase.

Mr. McCain’s citizenship was established by statutes covering the offspring of Americans abroad and laws specific to the Canal Zone as Congress realized that Americans would be living and working in the area for extended periods. But whether he qualifies as natural-born has been a topic of Internet buzz for months, with some declaring him ineligible while others assert that he meets all the basic constitutional qualifications — a natural-born citizen at least 35 years of age with 14 years of residence. [Link]

Don't Tell Mrs. Hoover

This item appeared Wednesday in a Florida newspaper:

Daisy Garlock, a direct descendant of President Herbert Hoover, was joined by relatives, friends and fellow Bay Village residents in a gala celebration of her 103rd birthday.

She was born Jan. 8, 1905, in Birmingham, Ala. into a family with four brothers and four sisters. In 1926 she graduated from Howard College (now Stanford University) with degrees in English and botany. [Link]

Hmm... According to every source I can find, Herbert Hoover had two sons (born 1903 and 1907) and no daughters. I don't think Daisy's even an indirect descendant of the guy.

And, by the way, Howard College is now Samford University—not Stanford, from which university (ironically) Herbert Hoover graduated in 1895.

MLK and His Grandfather Abe Lincoln

Martin Luther King, Jr., is a graphics designer and children's book author who lives in the suburbs of Atlanta. He goes by "Marty."

Marty King, 53, was named for his father, who was named for the German monk and theologian Martin Luther, founder of the Protestant Reformation in the early 1500s.

It's not the only famous name in his family. Marty King's grandfather was named Abraham Lincoln.

The name connection has caused some hassles along the way. There was the time the U.S. Postal Service canceled his mail and marked it "deceased." [Link]

Lincoln Made His Own Memorial

Just before he left Illinois for his first inauguration, Abraham Lincoln stopped by a cemetery in Coles County to visit the graves of his father and step-mother. It was Gale Baker's grandfather, John W. Baker, who showed Abe where the bodies were buried.

At the time, the burial sites were mostly unmarked, so Abraham Lincoln carved the initials of Thomas and Sarah Bush Lincoln on a piece of wood to serve as a rudimentary grave marker.

At least, this is the tale handed down to Gale Baker from his grandmother, Susan D. Baker.

Abraham Lincoln “found those graves and then went to Washington and was shot there,” said Gale Baker, 90. “That’s the story as she told it.” [Link]

If I remember correctly, some other stuff happened between his going to Washington and getting shot.

Harry's Hair?

Leila Cohoon's Hair Museum in Independence, Missouri, has on loan a possible piece of a president.

Six baby blond tufts of hair could belong to the late Harry Truman.

"It's a hair wreath made in the neighborhood where Truman grew up," Cohoon said.

It was a common practice for women to weave hair belonging to friends, neighbors and club or church members into hair crafts.

Recently, with the owner present, Cohoon snipped one of the sections of blond hair to be tested for DNA. [Link]

I Think We Can Rule Out Jefferson

Elmer Milton's great-uncle, Pierson Craig, turned 101 on Tuesday.

“He’s the grandson of a slave,” Milton said. “He said his grandmother, which was a slave born in 1847, was my great-great-great grandmother, Amanda Montgomery.”

Amanda would tell Craig that she was the only slave on the Alabama plantation who didn’t have to work outdoors, Milton said. “I believe she was the daughter of a president,” Milton said was his family’s story passed down through generations. “... They never did get to prove it.” [Link]

Where the Grass Don't Grow

Back in 1806, future U.S. President Andrew Jackson shot and killed a man in a duel. Now Jim and Laura Bowen of Nashville, Tennessee—together with a descendant of the fallen man—want to see if he is buried in their front yard. According to a 1955 newspaper clipping attached to their petition (pdf), the location of the burial won't be hard to find.

In the searing heat of last summer's drouth the grass and ivy in the front yard of J. M. Southall at 216 Carden Avenue, just off West End, first began to wither and die on a spot approximately three by seven feet under an ancient hackberry tree near the street. This indicated to the owner that at this point for some reason there was an unusual thinness of the soil.

Reference to Mr. Southall's deed shows that here is located the grave of Charles Dickenson [sic], killed in the famous duel with Andrew Jackson. When this area was opened as a sub-division a number of years ago; and the flat stone marker was covered shallowly by an earth-fill, the last visible evidence of Dickinson's mortal remains was obliterated.

George Bush Wrote a Book (No, Really!)

Professor George Bush was the first cousin of the president's great-great-great-grandfather, and the author of a book critical of Islam’s founder.

“The Life of Mohammed” went out of print a century ago, and there it was expected to remain, in perpetuity. But in the early 21st century, it was reissued by a tiny publisher simply because of the historical rhyme that a man with the same name occupied the White House. The first George Bush never witnessed the Second Coming, but now his book was enjoying an unexpected afterlife.

Predictably, it enraged some readers in the Middle East, where rage is an abundant commodity. In 2004, Egyptian censors at Cairo’s Al-Azhar Islamic Research Academy denounced the book by President Bush’s “grandfather” as a slander on the prophet, and the State Department was forced to issue a document clarifying the family relationship. [Link]

They Wanted to Pray, Not to Stay

A reunion being held at Monticello this weekend includes descendants of Thomas Jefferson and of his plantation's laborers, artisans, guests and overseers. Some members of the Monticello Association—a group of white Jefferson descendants that owns the graveyard where the president is buried—are still fuming over the Sally Hemings controversy.

A plan to hold a sunrise service today at the Monticello graveyard was turned down by the Monticello Association in May, said [Virginia "Prinny"] Anderson, who made the request and is a member of the association.

Denying access to even hold a service inside the cemetery is "silly," said David Works, who helped organize the reunion. "They still seem to think blacks want to be buried in the cemetery. But they don't. It's all kind of silly. But it doesn't ruin our weekend." [Link]

President Criticized for Commuting Sentence

A Genealogue News Flash [What's That?]

Upon learning Wednesday that he is distantly related to Benedict Arnold, President George W. Bush immediately commuted the sentence of the Revolutionary War traitor.

Among the president's ancestors are William and Christian (Peake) Arnold of Rhode Island—the great-great-great-grandparents of General Arnold. This makes the men fourth cousins, eight times removed.

"I have given this matter a great deal of thought in the past ten minutes," said the president, "and I have decided that eternal damnation is too harsh a penalty for a man who devoted his life to public service right up until the time he stabbed his countrymen in the back."

A little-known provision of the Patriot Act gives the president the authority to overrule the judgments of God, though not of Dick Cheney. Arnold—who was condemned to Hell soon after his death in 1801—was being processed for release, and could not be reached for comment.

Democrats expressed outrage that a man who so famously betrayed the American cause would be granted a commutation, and accused the president of giving preferential treatment to a relative.

"I have to do what I think is right," countered President Bush, "even if it means letting one of my cousins off the hook. It may not be politically popular, but then neither am I."

They Didn't Forget to Remember

A saying was passed down in Bettye Kearse's family: "Remember your name is Madison." A reunion of slave descendants this weekend at James Madison's Virginia plantation might bring her a step closer to proving the truth of the saying.

Kearse said her family traces its roots back to a slave named Corean, who was reportedly owned by Madison and gave birth to a son named Jim. When Jim was sold to a plantation owner in Tennessee, she told him not to forget he was a Madison in case they should ever reconnect. Since then, the saying's meaning has evolved.

"Initially it was a tool, then it became valuable after the slaves were free because my family really did well. They owned property, participated in government, learned to read and then they passed this legacy on," Kearse said. [Link]

A Few Last Requests

I learned yesterday that President Andrew Johnson was buried with his head resting on a copy of the Constitution. (I had to assure one of my nieces that, no, the president wasn't decapitated.) Here are some other unusual items people have carried to their graves.

• Just last April, a man in India was buried in the car he had owned since 1958.
• Reuben Smith was buried in 1899 sitting in his recliner with a checkerboard on his lap.
• Sir Walter Raleigh was buried with his favorite pipe and a tin of tobacco
• Bela Lugosi was buried in a black Dracula cape.
• Humphrey Bogart was buried with a small whistle inscribed, "If you need anything, just whistle."
• Bob Marley was buried with "his guitar, a soccer ball, a marijuana bud, a ring given to him by the Prince Asfa Wossen of Ethiopia and a Bible."
• Canadian Mountie Peter Schiemann was buried with a flashlight and bag of potato chips. ("He always said, 'If I was to die, bury me with a bag of chips and a flashlight because it's dark and I'll get hungry,'" said his sister, Julia Schiemann.)
• The guy in this commercial was buried with his lawn mower.

The First Lady's Pin Money

Listed in the annual financial disclosure forms filed by President and Mrs. Bush is a curious item: "Henry G. Freeman Jr. Trust — $12,000."

The payment was to Mrs. Bush from an annuity created by Freeman, a prominent Philadelphia landowner, when he wrote his will in 1912.

Freeman, who died in 1917, directed that after the last named beneficiary of his estate died, $12,000 a year would be paid "to the lady termed the first lady in the land; that is, the President of the United States [sic] wife, or anyone representing the president as such, should he not be married or should she die during his administration." He specified that the money be for the first lady's "own and absolute use" and the payments "shall continue in force as long as this glorious government exists." [Link]

Freeman's "last named beneficiary" died in 1989, and first ladies have receiving funds from "The Henry G. Freeman Jr. Pin Money Fund" ever since.

Abe Lincoln's Shower Curtain

A blood-stained flag that decorated Abraham Lincoln's box the night of his assassination was passed down in the family of two Ford's Theater actors. It's now in the possession of the Pike County (Pa.) Historical Society, which hasn't always treated it as a priceless artifact.

The flag remained a Struthers’ family heirloom until 1954 and, upon going to the society, apparently spent some years in relative obscurity. Dick Daddis, president of the society, has heard stories of the flag having been draped over an outdoor porch rail.

Former Society President Barbara Buchanan said she was horrified to find it displayed on a shower rod in the society’s former shared quarters in Community House, the current Pike County Library building. [Link]

Hey, Hey, LBJ, How Many Kids Did You Name Today?

Family legend has it that Lyndon K. Boozer—born July 19, 1963, in Washington, D. C.—got his name because his mother wanted more time off from work.

Her boss, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, stopped by to visit the new mother and her husband, a Treasury official.

She told the vice president that her son would be named Kyle Lyndon Boozer in his honor. If you switch his first and middle names, I'll extend your maternity leave, Johnson reportedly told her. The baby's parents took the deal. [Link]

The Lindsay Lohan of 1907

The Library of Congress blog reports today that the news business hasn't changed all that much in 100 years.

I had been expecting some weighty discourse on, I don’t know, maybe industrialism or American’s nascent role as a world power.

Instead what I got was this: William Howard Taft, the secretary of war who would go on to win the presidency the following year, is “not so large as rumored.”

For more curious news from a century ago, subscribe to 100 Years Ago Today.

Now That's a Scrapbook

A previously unknown letter from George Washington has been discovered in a little girl's scrapbook.

It was written in May 1787 and addressed to Jacob Morris, grandfather of Julia Kean, the precocious 10-year-old who started the brown leather scrapbook in 1826 and put the letter under a portrait of the nation’s first president.

The letter paper was too long to fit, especially under the large portrait, so Julia cut a strip off the top and plastered it vertically on the page, next to the letter’s envelope.

Julia also saved a letter from Thomas Jefferson to her step-grandfather, a Polish count who was traveling back to Poland to help Napoleon in a military campaign. [Link]

Lincoln Slept Uncomfortably Here

The Sterling-Rock Falls Historical Society in Illinois has purchased a house where Abraham Lincoln once spent the night. It was owned by Sheriff William Manahan on July 18, 1856.

When Manahan escorted his guest home in 1856, he might have offered Lincoln one of the family beds. Lincoln, accustomed to austere accommodations from years as a circuit-riding lawyer, accepted a night on the couch instead. However, it was too short, so two chairs were placed at the end to support Lincoln's long legs, according to Manahan family legend. [Link]

Tylers Tend to Attend

Harrison Tyler—grandson of our tenth president—will play a part in celebrating Jamestown's 400th anniversary. He's genetically predisposed to do so.

Harrison's grandfather, President John Tyler, attended the 200th anniversary jubilee of Jamestown's founding in 1807 and gave the keynote address at the centennial celebration in 1857 on Jamestown Island. Harrison's father, Lyon Gardiner Tyler, who was president of the College of William & Mary for more than twenty years, was a leading advocate of the 1907 Tercentenary, writing numerous books on early Virginia history when America celebrated her 300th anniversary. [Link]

An Action Hero With Ancestors

Nicolas Cage plays a typical family historian in the upcoming sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets. In fact, the plot sounds suspiciously like my usual summer vacation, but with more gunfire.

In the film, Cage plays treasure hunter Ben Gates, whose ancestor is implicated in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. He sets off on a globe-trotting adventure to clear his family name and find a missing treasure along the way. [Link]